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Kelly Ayotte takes up-and-coming role on Armed Services

Ayotte is often in lockstep with the Republican presidential campaign. | AP Photo

“My mentor did a lousy job because I didn’t know who they were,” Graham told POLITICO from Atlanta on his way back home after the trip out West with Ayotte and McCain in late September. “But having Joe Lieberman as your mentor and John McCain endorsing you in the primary, golly, that probably destined her to be taking a leading role in our conference on defense and national security.”

Ayotte — who was on a shortlist of rumored vice presidential candidates before Mitt Romney picked Paul Ryan as his running mate — is also often in lock step with Romney’s campaign in firing partisan shots at President Barack Obama.

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She joined McCain and Graham in a joint statement Sept. 25 bashing Obama on using the term “bumps in the road” in describing violence in the Middle East. “If the president had taken some time to hold even one meeting with his foreign colleagues during his visit to the U.N. General Assembly in New York today, perhaps they would have told him what has really happened in the Middle East on his watch,” according to their statement. The three of them — and Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) — also scolded U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice in a letter the same day on labeling the Sept. 11 attacks on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, as a result of a “spontaneous reaction.”

“She’s a solid Republican,” Graham said.

But he also pointed to a Sept. 21 bipartisan letter, he, Ayotte, Senate Armed Services Chairman Carl Levin and others sent Senate leaders asking for a “balanced” solution to the automatic defense and discretionary spending cuts.

Ayotte and Graham first met and quickly bonded when she took interest in a speech the South Carolinian made to the Senate GOP caucus in December 2010 on detainees and defense authorization legislation.“She’s been very serious about making sure we don’t criminalize the war on terror,” Graham said.

The ties to McCain stretch back to the Arizona Republican’s visit to New Hampshire in March 2010 to endorse her during a highly competitive Republican primary to replace GOP Sen. Judd Gregg.

McCain — who did a second visit to the Granite State later that fall — might have made the difference in helping to recruit support of veterans and Ayotte’s narrow 1,600-vote primary win before she cruised to an easy victory in the general election. Sarah Palin also endorsed Ayotte in the primary, and Romney helped out in the general election.

Ayotte touted her conservative ideology on the campaign trail, particularly the need to cut back on spending.

But as other Senate GOP freshmen like Mike Lee of Utah, Rob Portman of Ohio and Johnson firmly grabbed the budget-cutting mantle as well, Ayotte carved out a bigger role on military and national security.

Her husband — a former Air National Guard pilot who flew combat missions in Iraq — was clearly an influence as well.

She snagged a seat on the Senate Armed Services Committee alongside McCain, Lieberman and Graham, and joined Portman as two freshmen appointed top Republican on one of the panel’s six subcommittees.

Still, her ascendancy raises the question of whether Lieberman — as a Democrat comfortable with forging such a tight bond with Republicans that it has raised ire in his own party — is irreplaceable in the congressional foreign policy debate.

“Joe’s going to be a tough act to follow,” Graham said.

Mike Breen — vice president of the Truman National Security Project — said it is “way too early” to tell whether Ayotte or any other up-and-coming lawmakers in either party has the chops yet to try replacing Lieberman.

Ayotte has “shown a willingness to work in a bipartisan way, which the three of us have always been trying to do on defense and foreign policy,” Lieberman said.

That's nice. No doubt, if asked, Kelly can cross party lines and assist in the removal of firearms from the possession of Veterans, in support of the DoD policies. It's cost-effective when compared to providing mental health care, jobs, financial support, marital and family counseling services. Those are costly and messy. Stamp Veterans with NO GUN 4 U, call it good, and eliminate the "waste" in VA spending.

We've done all we could, given the state of the budget".

Her record on the Ward Bird prosecution ensured she was sufficiently attuned to the displaced/transplanted Commonwealth voters, who viewed the old Granite State ways to be blockheaded, rural, and down right hilly-billy. After all, who's got the money IN New Hampshire to buy these multi-million-dollar Lake Winnipesaukee homes, if not out-of-state liberals, with anti-gun sentiments?

When it's not about the money - it's ALL about the money. Ward Bird was Kelly Ayotte and Governor Lynch signaling a change. The Old Granite State is dead.

New Hampshire is part of the Commonwealth, regardless of our separatist past. Settle here/spendhere/vote here/register your car here, why go to Maine? They'll report you to Massachusetts.

The Legislature struck back - though Kelly's legacy lives on in her successors, who seek arrests and prosecutions desiring to overturn the Castle Law based on Court decisions.

"Curtilage" ends at your interior doorknob - step beyond that with a firearm or other weapon, and find yourself in handcuffs. This "tea party law" that neither we, nor the Governor wanted, will be overturned in Court. The State Prosecutors are certain about this. Be a good victim, get a description, take pictures but not video - or you could be prosecuted for recording without consent. Call 911, and let a professional handle the situation. ~ Manchester PD

.. word on the street is that confederates of the Mujahedin-e-Khalq terror cult and operatives for terrorist media financier Alwaleed bin Talal will be meeting in the City of New York, Monday Dec. 3rd 2012 @ 7 pm. Where? 768 5th Ave. Why? to plot destruction, naturally. We have been unable to determine what code-phrase will be used to gain admission to the Plotters' Ball. "Dan Quayle's brain" is rather too obvious. "Midge Decter's p*nis perhaps?